Day Six: First Day of Operations

Today was a late start for the Albrights, as Dr. Lehnert advised us to skip the madness of the early morning, as setting up the Operating Room would be very, very hectic. Since we aren't doctors, we are not needed as much in this stage anyways. When we arrived around 10:30 am, we had a very hard time finding the OR, and it was hard to communicate with the Vietnamese Nurses. We hopelessly wandered around the hospital for an hour before we decided to just wait for the crew in the cafeteria for lunch at 12. We kept ourselves busy organizing images from yesterday and making silly faces.

After lunch came, my dad went to negotiate pricing with the hospital director and I got into my scrubs with the nurses. I can now add being in an operating room onto my list of firsts I experienced this trip. When I first got into Dr. Lehnert's room, I felt a bit woosy, as they had to administer to drugs through a needle in the spine, and were cleaning everything with iodine, which got me a little light headed. Needles are not my thing. This experience re-affirmed the fact that I do not want to be a surgeon when I grow up! Once the surgery began, I was okay and no longer had to step outside so much. The surgeries that I saw were a 30 year old woman getting a TAL (Tedon Achilles Lengthening) and a lateral closing wedge (she used to walk on the side of her foot, but will now be able to walk on the bottom of it), a 22 year old man getting a triple, wedge, and TAL (he had a similar problem), and a 7 year old boy getting a TAL and a posterior capsule release (he walked on the outside of both of his feet a little bit). The last surgery was simple and only took around 30 minutes in all. It was great to experience the operating room and see how everything happened and what it was like. Even though I couldn't help with the surgery, I kept myself busy as a "nurse", helping the doctors tie their clothes and handing them things like gauze when needed. 

This poor little guy was left in the hallway all by himself for about an hour before his surgery, with no parents or nurse to watch him. Many of the nurses left the doors open in the operating room, and he could hear all of the dreadful sounds of surgery, not making him feel any more comfortable. I sat with him along with our translator "G". A few tears trickled down his cheek while he was waiting for surgery, but he stayed strong and eventually fell asleep. Luckily, his surgery was very short, easy, and it went very well.

Nurse Jenni and Susie organizing medications.